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| - How does this place have 4 stars? Can we say disappointment?
Empress Taytu was my first Ethiopian food experience and has steered me away from Ethiopian cuisine. Well not necessarily Ethiopian food yet, but definitely this restaurant.
The atmosphere was a mishmash of Hawaiian Tiki Bar with rural Ethiopia- State of confusion? The restaurant is in a state of needing repairs with warpped walls and water damage through out the ceilings and walls.
I ordered a glass of Ethiopian honey wine that was sweet, but not worth $6.50 for 4-5 oz of wine. My friend had bottle of Brazilian beer that had a slightly chocolately taste that was yummy for $4.50.
We had the appetizer combination with the meat and vegetarian sambusas. I didn't enjoy the meat sambusas, but the lentil sambusas were tasty. The collard green/cottage cheese were mushy and left a terrible aftertaste in my mouth. The appetizer was $12.00 for 4 mini sambusas and a bowl of collard greens/cottage cheese
For our entree we shared the combination platter. The platter was just composed of several piles of different kinds of mush. The mush piles included "just ok" yellow split peas, spicy chicken that had a gamey taste, bland ground beef, bland cabbage, bitter/awkward tasting collard greens, and dry red lentils.
The bread served with the meal is cold and doughy (like a wetter/grainer pizza dough)- Ethiopian food is served without eating utensils. The entree altogether was $17.00
The service dragged- we waited 20 minutes for drinks and another 20 minutes for appetizers and then 25 minutes later our food slowly trickled out of the kitchen. I was done with what I was willing to eat on my plate before other members of the table even got their food.
The bill came out to 60.00 for 2 drinks, 1 appetizer, and 1 entree- severely overpriced for its decor, location, and food.
I ended up eating at another restaurant because I was only able to eat a few things.
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